Class 127 Derby 4-car DMUs

Description

Interior

Interior plastic wall paneling was in matt yellow, charcoal and buff, and wood mouldings were mahogany, polished in the natural colour. Ceiling panels, also plastic, were a matt ivory, and the linoleum was a gun-metal marble finish.

Seats were back-to-back in a 2+3 formation (6 across bulkheads). They were formed from steel tubular framing, covered in cut moquette of tan, yellow and black horizontal stripes. The seat ends were enclosed with a solid timber frame faced with a semi-matt green plastic panel.

Each car had two Smiths thermostatically controlled oil-burning combustion heaters mounted on the underframe. Fresh air was drawn in through a filter and heated, after which it passed through a system of ducts under the floor with outlets into the car.

Interior lighting was supplied by the batteries stepped up to 240v, 1,000/1,665 cycles ac by individual AEI transistor oscillators, each arranged to feed one 4ft 40W fluorescent lamp arranged down the centre of each vehicle. The cab and van lighting was independent from the passenger lighting, and was controlled by two-way switches adjacent to the doorways.

Route maps were added below some luggage racks, as seen in the image taken inside a centre car in 1989 when it was working in the Birmingham area. The 'For Dunstable' below Luton Midland Road dates it to mid-60s at the latest. On Tour With the Class 13 Army.

Cab

In the cab were "engine running" indicator lights (worked by oil pressure switches) for 12 engines (six power cars - enough for the maximum of 3 x 4-car sets), air pressure indicator lights for six power cars, two engine starting buttons (one for all engines on each side of the train), one engine stop button, a guard to driver signalling buzzer, a telephone for communication between driver and guard, and a fire bell which operated in conjunction with an automatic extinguishing and engine stopping system.

Cab photo by Michael Kaye 55A.

On the drivers control desk were an electric speedometer, an air pressure gauge, duplex vacuum gauge, switches for controlling the demister and route and destination indicator panel lights, a dimmer switch for the panel lights, horn control, a windscreen wiper control and the key-operated main battery switch.

As the sets were built with blue square multiple working, they could be worked with units fitted with conventional 4 speed gearboxes. For this reason the speedometer was calibrated to indicate when gear changing was advisable, and the drive selector on the drivers right was marked "D, 3, 2, 1" to change the gears on multied vehicles with mechanical transmission. Above was the mechanically-interlocked reverser controller, and on the left the engine speed controller, which had five positions and incorporated the deadmans handle. When the handle was released the engines returned to idling, the gear to neutral, and after a five-second display the brakes applied. The parking brake was midway across the cab.